RESUMO
Phosphor-converted white light-emitting diodes (pc-WLEDs) are fabricated by combining CaSi2O2N2:Eu2+ and Ca2Si5N8:Eu2+ phosphors with a blue chip. Experimental results demonstrate that placing the red phosphor layer above the yellow one (Y down/R up) yields the highest luminous efficiency, making it the preferable phosphor distribution for pc-WLEDs rather than Y up/R down. This finding suggests that the extent of overlap between the emission spectrum of short-emission-wavelength phosphors and the excitation spectrum of long-emission-wavelength phosphors and their luminous efficacy of radiation should be taken into account simultaneously when studying the optical characteristics of pc-WLEDs. Compared to common pc-WLEDs with silicone gel as the remote layer, the proposed step-index remote configuration exhibits superior luminous efficiency because of reduced total internal reflection and Fresnel loss.
RESUMO
Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the major etiological agent of swine pleuropneumonia that causes critical economic losses in swine industry. The use of DNA vaccines encoding Apx exotoxin structural proteins is a promising novel approach for immunization against A. pleuropneumoniae. The goal of this study was to design DNA vaccines which encode the gene of ApxIA or ApxIIA, and to evaluate the elicited immune responses and protective efficacy in mice. Significant humoral immune responses were induced by these DNA vaccines through intramuscular immunization. The IgG subclass (IgG1 and IgG2a) analysis indicates that divalent DNA vaccine induces both Th1 and Th2 immune responses. The protective efficacy was evaluated by the survival against lethal challenge with A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 1. The groups of vaccination with pcDNA-apxIA or divalent (pcDNA-apxIA and pcDNA-apxIIA) DNA vaccine provided protective efficacy significantly higher than that of the negative control groups (P<0.05). However, pcDNA-apxIIA vaccine conferred protection was limited and not significant than that of the negative control groups (P>0.05). These results show that the divalent DNA vaccine could confer the best protection. This finding indicates that DNA immunization should facilitate the development of a 'third-generation' of vaccines and provide a novel strategy against A. pleuropneumoniae infection.